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dasman7580
Dodge Dakota
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8/11/2003
21:46:04
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 Subject: 4.7 Towing????
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I have a 2000 reg. cab 4x4 with the 4.7. I have towed a 17 ft. ski boat and a 16 ft. bass boat with no problems, but want to know if it would tow a 19 ft. travel trailer? Does anyone do any towing with the 4.7?
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FL 4WD
Dodge Dakota
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8/11/2003
23:29:52
|  RE: 4.7 Towing????
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I pull a 22' cuddy cabin with a hard top. To keep the trans in 4th, I have to keep it at 59 MPH or less. It will pull 75 MPH no problem, but the gas stations get closer together real quick in 3rd gear.
2000 CC 4.7 4WD A/T
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ErnieQuad03
Dodge Dakota
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8/11/2003
23:47:31
|  RE: 4.7 Towing????
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24' Travel Trailer. 3450lbs. I have a 2003 Quad Cab 4.7 with 5spd manual and 3.55 gears and tow just fine. I also have the tow package and heavy duty service group on the truck.
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dasman7580
Dodge Dakota
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8/12/2003
08:05:51
| RE: 4.7 Towing????
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Do you guys do any towing in the mountains? The travel trailer I'm looking at weighs about 3200lbs. but that is it's dry weight. I'm guessing after it gets loaded down it might be around 4200-5000lbs. What do you guys think?
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ErnieQuad03
Dodge Dakota
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8/12/2003
13:48:03
| RE: 4.7 Towing????
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Never did any mountains as of yet, travels haven't taken me there. I live in PA and go through a ton of hills, that's about it. The 3450lbs that mine weighs is also dry weight. Not sure what it is with everything loaded in, I would say no more than 4,000 or so. Being that you have a regular cab, you should have a little more power to spare than what I have with my Quad because of a weight difference. You should be just fine. If you have an Auto trans, be sure you have a trans cooler on there though, my friend's dad blew out a tranny on a 4.3L Chevy Conversion van once, got a new tranny and a trans cooler and has been fine since...it is a small investment that can save you a lot of $$$ in the long run if you don't already have one.
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Demon Dakota
DakotaEnthusiast
8/12/2003
13:48:19
| RE: 4.7 Towing????
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Since it will tow at least 6K lbs, I'd say you're OK :) I've towed 2 Nissan 240 SX's at the same time with mine, but I only did it once :)
K&N Drop in AF (CAI during summer months)
True Dual exhaust and removed third cat
HO Cams & HO Intake
FASTMAN 70mm TB
Autolite 3923 Plugs
TPS @ .76 VDC
IAT Adjuster Mod
14.52@94.2 MPH at Silver Dollar Raceway
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Jb
Dodge Dakota
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8/13/2003
11:04:09
| RE: 4.7 Towing????
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I tow a 19' fiberglass bass boat all over the place with my dakota 4.7l. my boat weighs in at 3000# dry and coser to 4000 with all my gear and 50 gal of fuel. it does it just fine, i tow mainly in the mtns and it does great. plenty of power. i have a 4x4 auto 3.55 gears with the tow group and hd service group. just dont tow in overdrive because it will shift too much, its not good for the tranny.
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Cal
Dodge Dakota
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8/13/2003
13:13:02
|  RE: 4.7 Towing????
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What about your hitch??? Stock one or aftermarket? I pulled a 7,000 pound boat with my 5.2 . I bought a aftermarket one that bolts on and cant be seen from behind. It was rated at 10 thousand pounds un-like the one that was on it...
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Jeremy
Dodge Dakota
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8/13/2003
15:59:46
| RE: 4.7 Towing????
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personally i think the auto with 3.55 gears sucks azz to pull my 18 ft 2300 lbs boat. I do have to pull it up hills and believe me i am definatle going to upgrade my gears to the 4.56 set. I also intend to put 33's on it so that is part of the reason also for the gear hike, but mainly its because i get sick and tired of all the damn spark knock i get with it and the highest octane fuel and ne wplugs isnt cutting it for me. Just going to make it easier on myself and get the gears. Piss on those lousy 3.55's. Oh and if you are wondering what i'm going to do anout gas mileage.....there isnt such a thing with a dakota.
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AndrewM
Dodge Dakota
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8/14/2003
01:00:43
| RE: 4.7 Towing????
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I tow a 19' Aerolite travel trailer with my 02 QC 4.7 auto 3.55. Even in south Louisiana, I can't pull it in overdrive. Downshifts at the slightest incline. Will be changing to 4.10 gears in the future. But for now, it tows great in 3rd gear. Set the cruise at 65 and forget it. Pulls like a champ.
Be sure to get a good weight distributing hitch with sway control and a good brake controller. I recommend the Equal-i-zer brand hitch and Tekonsha Prodigy brake controller.
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lc
Dodge Dakota
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8/14/2003
01:09:44
| RE: 4.7 Towing????
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I have a oo' cc 4.7 and it pulls my dad's 27'terrylite travl traler easily in 3rd once it gets rollin but its a mother#$%* to get up to speed with 7,000 pounds behind you
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lc
Dodge Dakota
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8/14/2003
01:09:47
| RE: 4.7 Towing????
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I have a oo' cc 4.7 and it pulls my dad's 27'terrylite travl traler easily in 3rd once it gets rollin but its a mother#$%* to get up to speed with 7,000 pounds behind you
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03Dak
Dodge Dakota
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8/16/2003
00:14:18
| RE: 4.7 Towing????
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I have a '03 4.7 4X4 auto 3.55 with the tow package.
I drive up some serious mountains with my trailer and three Quads. I can do over 100MPH with no trailer and keep over 70MPH with the trailer up all the big hills if I keep the pig hammered. I did only average 10 MPG going from Phoenix up through Payson and towards Flagstaff going up and down the mountains. But my truck still got to pass plenty of slow pokes even with my trailer and Quads, etc, he he he :-P
My only mods are a Flowmaster exhaust and a home brew true cold air intake with a K&N behind the passenger side fog light. Those mods didn't give too much in the city, but I do believe they helped me pull the mountains. I may get some 3.92 or 4.10 gears when I get a chance.
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Tom
Dodge Dakota
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8/17/2003
00:12:23
| RE: 4.7 Towing????
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I'd be more worried about stopping. We've got several "hills" around here that have a 7% grade for 6 or 7 miles. Make sure the trailer has its
own brakes and your not running the famous Dodge
rotors. If they aren't warped now they will be.
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03Dak
Dodge Dakota
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8/17/2003
01:18:57
| RE: 4.7 Towing????
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Are you saying our disk brakes suck?
I have the towing package, and from what I heard my rear are larger than the standard size. My rear rotors look as big as my front.
Also, I noticed when you are in cruise contol and you speed up downhill over your set point that the crazy think takes it out of overdrive to provide some engine braking.
I hope my brakes don't suck, I don't have any brakes on the trailer. It's just a single axle 12 footer for my quads. The truck seems to stop ok, and I don't ride my brakes much.
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Demon Dakota
DakotaEnthusiast
8/17/2003
10:55:48
| RE: 4.7 Towing????
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I thought the owner's manual said not to use OD when towing larger or objects close to max payload anyway? That would explain downshifting from OD to third...
K&N Drop in AF (CAI during summer months)
True Dual exhaust and removed third cat
HO Cams & HO Intake
FASTMAN 70mm TB
Autolite 3923 Plugs
TPS @ .76 VDC
IAT Adjuster Mod
14.52@94.2 MPH at Silver Dollar Raceway
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03Dak
Dodge Dakota
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8/17/2003
18:03:16
| RE: 4.7 Towing????
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I don't think you understood what I was talking about.
Of course I keep it out of OD when I'm going UP hills. This prevents your transmission from the typical back and forth shifting from OD to 3rd, back to OD, etc which actually this new transmission is smart enough to stay in 3rd without even having to bother to manually keep it from OD.
What I was talking about is going DOWNHILL and using cruise control. Say you set the cruise for 75 MPH. You go down a big hill and speed up to 80MPH from coasting. The computer will put it in 3rd gear to provide more engine braking. To automatically slow you down.
This is the first truck I've ever had that did that. Not a bad idea I guess, but sometimes I'd rather do it myself. When you cancel the cruise control it then will not do that.
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dakotaman2000
Dodge Dakota
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8/19/2003
21:00:05
| RE: 4.7 Towing????
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Lets talk about the brakes.. I purchased a dakota CC 2X4 new in 2000. at 15K the rotors were warped and was told by the dealership it was due to driving habits. My responce was BS non of my other vehicals have had this problem. The insult to the injury was being told that you can only expect to get about 35k on the first set of brakes. At 36K I said the hell with it and replaced the rotors and pads the rears at that time were still fine. OVERALL I love the truck but hate the brakes.
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jam0o0
Dodge Dakota
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11/05/2003
13:29:53
| RE: 4.7 Towing????
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Message:
ok i have a 2002 quad cab with the 4.7 2x4 auto
tranny. no tow package, the lower number gears in
the diff, and an after market frame hitch. can i tow a
two axle flatbed car trailer with a little 4 cylinder
s10 on it? should i get trailer brakes? do i need a
weight distributing hitch? should i turn over drive
off when i tow? the trip is usually 3 to 4 hours.
please post here or email me at
jam0o0@netscape.net with any opinions or wise
words. thanks
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Kowalski
Dodge Dakota
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11/05/2003
16:00:32
| RE: 4.7 Towing????
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I pull similar weight to that with my 2K RC 4x4 with the 3.55 gears - no problem. Use trailer brakes, many states would require them. Might want to think about a tranny cooler too. Load the S-10 nose first - if you keep 60% or a bit more of the weight towards the front of the trailer you should be able to get by without the weight distributing hitch. If the trailer wags, just shift weight a little more forwards. I'm bad, I leave the overdrive on - haven't had a problem with it hunting between 3rd & 4th, seems to mostly hit overdrive on flats or downhill when there's less stress on the tranny. I guess a lot of guys recomend turning it off though.
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skitter
Dodge Dakota
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11/05/2003
19:34:19
| RE: 4.7 Towing????
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i pulled a 26ft travel trailer for 2 years and had no problem. that engine had more than enough power. my gas milage was only about 12-14 mpg though.
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